Very nice tribute to the Delta L-1011. This was the first widebody aircraft that I had the pleasure to fly on. It was nice to be able to spot the L-1011 and DC-10's at small and medium sized cities back in the 70's and 80's.http://youtu.be/IqL3EDldxx0

Quoting miaami (Thread starter):This was the first widebody aircraft that I had the pleasure to fly on.

Delta's L-1011 was the first aircraft I EVER had the pleasure to fly on, although I was only 3 at the time, DFW-MCO. I don't remember much, except that my mother and I must have been in the center block of 5 seats, because I was laying down across several of them, and she had room to be comfortable. In fact, the next time I got on a jet (ten years later), it was an MD-80, and I remember thinking, "Wow... this is a TINY AIRPLANE!"

Quoting Lono (Reply 1):Watching this I am again reminded that the old paint job looks better than the all red mess DL now has.

Delta's old-old-old colors looked better than ANYTHING they've come up with since. The closest was the 98 minor update. It was tolerable, to me at least, because it was really just a freshening of the cheat line that they already had. Song/WavyGravy/OnwardUpward are all just modern, negative-space works of marketing that will become dated by the time the last coat dries.
In my opinion.

I always enjoyed flying the L-1011, most of the time on TWA. There was a memorable Delta trip - ATL BDA ATL in the 1980s. Flight time was only about 1 1/2 hours each way but very enjoyable. The best part was crossing the open ramp to de-plane and board at Bermuda. The L-1011 is beautiful from any angle but there is nothing like viewing that big plane from ground level !

I enjoyed my experience on two Delta L-1011 flights, from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale and from Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta. L-1011 is huge and breathtaking. Isn't it safe to say everyone liked the L-1011?? Maybe not the flight attendants. Perspective

It's nice they used one of my photos without permission. On the other hand, it made for a nice video of this aircraft and, in my opinion, the absolute best paint scheme of all time anywhere on the planet. Wish they had a retro paint scheme of these colors flying today and not locked up in a hangar hidden from view.

My first flight on a widebody was a Delta L-1011 in December 1975. I was at Keesler AFB, Miss going home on leave for Christmas. The typlical regiment was to take an hour or so bus ride from Keesler to New Orleans where four of us went in on a hotel room. The next morning we boarded what must have been a fairly new Delta L-1011 with a special Bicentennial livery that sported a large seal at the front of the fuselage that said "We The People." We took a short flight to DFW where we connected with a Frontier 737-200 to SLC and BIL. But that L-1011 ride was excellent!

I flew a DL 1011 in 1985 when I was a kid, me my grandmother and sister was flying from DFW to LAX. Sadly, I believe this was the DFW-LAX leg of flight 191, just a week or more before that horrible crash at DFW.

It funny, when you think about how Lockheed build today's fighter jets, and you think about how the 1011 was the only jetliner built by Lockheed. Who knows, Airbus will design a jet-fighter.

Quoting gegtim (Reply 12):The next morning we boarded what must have been a fairly new Delta L-1011 with a special Bicentennial livery that sported a large seal at the front of the fuselage that said "We The People."

About right........probably only a year or two old as we first took delivery in about '74 or '75.

"A committee is a group of the unprepared, appointed by the unwilling, to do the unnecessary"----Fred Allen

I always loved the L1011 and regret never having had the chance to fly on one. And the Delta (widget) scheme was my favorite on that aircraft.

There is still a Delta L1011 in existence, but you have to travel to Tehran's Mehrabad Airport to see it. The widgets are gone, but the blue and red stripes are still there. Inside, she looks to be in good shape.

Growing up in northern NJ, right under the flight path for flights that came up from the south for landing on EWR's 22s, it was always exciting to see the DL L-1011 fly over (much more exciting than their usual DC8s).

And yes, the old color scheme is classic - I wish they would bring it back!

The only couple times I had the opportunity to fly an L1011 it was on DL into/ex- SAN. I seem to recall enjoying the experience at a more visceral level than my flights on a DC10 of which there were comparably more. Maybe it was just the relative scarcity of the experience that made it seem more special, but regardless, I do recall it having been a more enjoyable experience as a pax. DL also accounted for my only DC8 flight.

And yes, I think the classic livery is considerably nicer than the monocrhome e-wdiget bleeding off the tail now. In fact, as much as I used to smile when I saw the tril-color GMST flag livery in BOM, IMO the classic livery shown above on the Tristar remains Delta's best.

Quoting gegtim (Reply 21):I also flew a Hawaiian Airline L-1011 in 1986 and it seems like all of the lavatories were in the back of the aircraft. Was that the same configuration for Delta as well, or just some airlines?

The L-1011 had a unique layout of aft lavatories, where they were arranged in a circular fashion, thus squeezing five lavatories in the back.